What risks run children who are bullied by their peers in school?We can imagine that, in addition, to suffer consequences on their physical integrity, physical and verbal aggressions can have psychological repercussions.
Fears, anxiety, difficulties falling asleep, changes in eating habits, etc. hopefully any child who is bullied suffer with a situation that in itself is stressful. Being a teenager does not improve the victim's personal situation, as we have seen by seeing 'After Lucia'.
It is clear that without support the consequences can be even more serious, even reaching suicide. But Have you ever wondered at what point all manifestations of bullying have disappeared? JAMA Psychiatry (an American medical association), has analyzed the Aftermath of bullying in adulthood. And he has done it with the goal of 'test whether bullying and / or being bullied in childhood predicts psychiatric and suicide problems in young adults after considering childhood psychiatric problems and family difficulties'.
For this they have conducted a prospective study evaluating 1420 participants who had been intimidated four to six times between nine and 16 years. The people evaluated had previously been classified in four categories: victims, aggressors, aggressors / victims, or none of the above.
Victims and aggressors / victims had high rates of psychiatric disorders when they became adults, but also more disorders during their childhood, as well as family difficulties
It was observed that once you reach adulthood, the problems do not disappear due to the fact that they have grown older, or no longer suffer harassment. In fact, those participants who had only been victims had higher levels of depression, anxiety, panic and agoraphobia.
Those who were victims, but also stalkers also had depression, in addition to suicidal thoughts. And the stalkers are not spared either, since they manifest high rates of antisocial personality.
The study concludes that Bullying can be easily evaluated and supervised by health professionals and school personnel.. There are effective interventions to reduce victimization, which can reduce human suffering and long-term health costs, providing a safe environment for children as they grow.
And let's not forget those programs or interventions aimed at preventing bullyingTo do this, let's refresh our memories and remember cooperative learning or the acquisition of experiences in the classroom.
Finally, it is necessary to banish the idea that bullying processes must continue to remain a kind of ritual necessary in personal and academic development. In a nutshell: it is not healthy, not even natural for these behaviors to occur, and to help children the best we can do is understand the need to act.
